Friday, May 16, 2014

Usually, political debates are an opportunity for candidates to
provide voters with enough information for them to make informed
decisions before filling out their ballots. But Wednesday night’s
Republican gubernatorial primary debate in Boise, Idaho, featuring the
state’s top four conservative candidates, raised more questions than it
answered.

Two of the four candidates – a foul-mouthed biker from Nampa named
Harley Brown and a bearded anti-abortion activist named Walt Bayes – had
previously run for office but garnered few votes. Their show-stealing
debate performances, broadcast on Idaho’s public television network,
revealed why.

Brown set the tone by explaining early on in the debate that God told
him to run for president while he was going through personal trouble:
“I cried out to God. I said, ‘How about putting me back on active duty
and making me a battalion commander?’ Long story short, he says, ‘No,
son, I got a higher rank for you. I’m gonna make you a commander in
chief.’ And I stagger not at his promise. I’m gonna get into that more
with you.”

However, while Brown was mostly colorful and crude, Bayes was clearly
the most radical of the lot, declaring abortion outright murder, saying
he would shoot authorities if they came for his children, and implying
he thought LGBT people should be put to death.

One of Bayes’ early statements was a rant about abortion, claiming it
was against state law to even perform the procedure: “If I’m governor, I
am going to enforce the law. And somebody says, ‘What about the Supreme
Court?’ If the Supreme Court goes to hell, I’m not followin’. And I’m
telling you folks, when you murder 56 million babies, you’re asking for
our country to be demolished.”

He read from Scripture – Romans 1:24-32, to be exact – when he was
asked about the recent court decision overturning Idaho’s ban on
same-sex marriage, saying: “My main loyalty is to God Almighty, and what
he says is what I go by. And this is part of the Bible.”

The reading concluded with the line: “Who, knowing the judgment of
God, that they would commit such things, are worthy of death.”

Bayes also boasted of having been arrested for his home schooling
advocacy when he was asked if he could govern. “They told me we couldn’t
home-school. I prayed about it. I stood on my hind legs like a man. I
told ‘em what I thought of ‘em, and the television would talk to me for
thirty minutes or an hour: Well what would you do if they came out to
take your kids? Well, you’d shoot ‘em! What else would you do?”

Bayes also had a scathing assessment of the two political parties: “I
honestly think half of the Republican Party is Democrats and half of
the Democratic is Communist.”

Near the end of the debate, Bayes exclaimed: “Our energy plants that
are run by atomic – they can stand one-fifteenth of an earthquake like
that one in Japan! And my Bible says they’re gonna get worse and worse!”

While Brown and Bayes kept the audience’s attention with their
outlandish pronouncements, the two more mainstream candidates –
incumbent Gov. L. Butch Otter and State Sen. Russ Fulcher, a Tea Party
favorite – held wonky discussions mostly between themselves about
serious state policies and politics.

The two fringe candidates also tried their hand at policy, voicing
sentiments similar to those heard on the right surrounding the standoff
at Cliven Bundy’s Nevada ranch.

“The first thing I want to do is take Idaho ground back from the
federal government,” said Bayes. “The Constitution – the Idaho
Constitution – states plainly that the federal government only owns a
few buildings. The land is ours. We’ve got as much right to all the land
in this state, including the wilderness, as New York has Manhattan.
I’ve got as much right to see Manhattan Island like they paid
twenty-four dollars for as they have to come out here and look at our
wilderness. We’ve got a bunch of Eastern idiots running everything!”

Brown chimed in: “I agree with Mr. Bayes. The key is getting our land
back from the feds. And here’s my
plan of attack. … OK, you go in
there and you use spiritual warfare. Nobody – everybody talks about the
natural. But I’m gonna talk about the other realm we need to extend. You
bind those evil spirits that are behind the feds with the blood of
Jesus, the name of Jesus, the power of entombment of the Holy Spirit,
the power of agreement, the Word of God. Take air superiority, and then
go in there with your tanks, on the ground, with [colleague Chris]
Troupis’s lawsuits. Blitzkrieg.”

The somewhat astonished moderator interjected that the question she
had asked was about taxes. Brown was unruffled: “Taxes are a drag,” he
said. “I don’t even like to think about it. Fighting the feds is more
exciting for me.”

Brown was also clearly unapologetic about the bigoted jokes and remarks he makes at his campaign website, “The Candid Candidate”.
“You might find it offensive, but I hit everybody — Jews, Irish people,
black jokes and religious jokes,” Brown said when asked about the site.
“I don’t like political correctness! Can I say this? It sucks! … I’m
about as politically correct as your proverbial turd in a punchbowl. And
I’m proud of it. And I’m going for the vote of the real people.”

Indeed, as Idaho Statesman columnist Dan Popkey reported,
Brown made a crude racist joke about “wetbacks” during the warmup for
the debate and was warned that he would be cut off from questioning if
he made such comments during the debate.

At the closing, Brown finished the tale of how God told him he would
become president, including a mention of “trumped up restraining orders”
that prevented him from seeing his kids. He also waved a signed
statement from a “Masai prophet” that supposedly confirmed that God had
told him this.

“You have your choice, folks,” Brown concluded, waving at his fellow
candidates. “A cowboy, a curmudgeon, a biker, or a normal guy. Take your
pick… We’re leaving it up to you.”

Sara Robinson has worked as an editor or columnist for several national magazines, on beats as varied as sports, travel, and the Olympics; and has contributed to over 80 computer games for EA, Lucasfilm, Disney, and many other companies. A native of California's High Sierra, she spent 20 years in Silicon Valley before moving to Vancouver, BC in 2004. She currently is pursuing an MS in Futures Studies at the University of Houston. You can reach her at srobinson@enginesofmischief.com.